The News
The Broncos have officially hired and introduced the next head coach, Josh McDowell. Mike Nolan appears to be returning to Denver to become the fourth defensive coordinator in the last four years. Rick Dennison also appears to be gone as the offensive coordinator.

The OpinionI'm not quite sure how all this will affect the Broncos high-powered offense, whether or not McDowell intends on putting his own stamp on it is yet to been seen.

However the defense is in for a major shake-up, Nolan and McDowell are both proponents of a 3-4 defense as opposed to the 4-3 that's been run in Denver for forever. I think that might lead to a faster defensive turnaround then some suspect, The Broncos' corner-backs are both talented and would benefit significantly from the pressure that a 3-4 can generate. The Broncos will definitely need to improve at safety and also get a nose tackle for it to work. As far as linebackers there is talent there it's just a question of how effectively they can transfer to the newer style.

The offense does need some fine-tuning, they ran yards up all season long, but a lot of times the points on the board didn't match. I think how successful the offense is this year will depend on if the offensively line will have to change from zone-blocking to a more man-to-man style, and if so then how quickly that will happen. All the skill positions are set, except for running-back but this years Broncos team and also the Patriots teams from the last few years show how that isn't a big need in order to run up points.

OvertimeWell I won the coin-flip, so I actually get a chance to finish this up.

Whatever changes that that McDowell implements will definitely make it an interesting off-season, hopefully the Broncos' draft this year will do as much to help the defense as last year's did to help the offense.

Well after a year off from the world of blogging I'm back, I've retitled the blog and we'll see if it catches the interest of anyone out there. I'll be focusing on sports in general. I'm from the Rocky Mountain area so there might be more content about Denver based teams then elsewhere, but I'll try in give my honest opinion on everything that catches my eye.

Following up my post on the Rockies starting pitching I though I'd do a rundown of the Rockies bullpen as it stands now. Overall the group performed well especially during the stretch run. Their toughest moment came in June when the Rockies lost 9 straight games on the road partially due to then closer Brian Fuentes four straight blown saves. Shortly thereafter Fuentes was placed on the DL and Manny Corpas took over closer duties for the rest of the year.

Manny Corpas
Took over the closer duties after Brian Fuentes injury/meltdown and perform extremely well saving 19 of 22 games and posting a 2.08 ERA over 78 inning for the entire year. Gained some notoriety after his habit of dumping a cup of water on the front of his jersey was noticed during the Wild Card series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Not quite the strikeout numbers that you normally like to see from a closer, only 58 in 78 innings, but doesn't let a lot of traffic on base either with a WHIP barely above 1.00. Could develop into a lights out closer in his second full year in the majors.

Brian FuentesThe Rockies closer since 2005, Fuentes made history by becoming the first closer to ever blow four consecutive saves before losing his role and being sent to the DL. After returning Fuentes settled into the setup role and formed a solid lefty-righty setup combination with LaTroy Hawkins. His strikeout numbers decreased for the third straight year last year, but so did his walks. Rumors have been circulated and nobody would be surprised if by the trading deadline Fuentes is shipped to a team in need of a closer. Also could regain his closer role if Corpas does struggle.

Luis VizcainoSigned to a 2 year $7 million contract, Vizcaino is expected to replace Hawkins who signed as a free agent with Vizcaino's old team, the Yankees. Last year with the Yankees, Vizcaino won 8 games out of the bullpen while posting a 4.30 ERA. His stats will probably benefit from a move to the pitching deep NL West where the Rockies were the lone threatening lineup last year. Vizcaino is expected to be a solid mainstay in the 7th and 8th innings for the Rockies.

Matt Herges
After starting the season in Triple A for the Rockies, Herges resurrected his career while helping the Rockies make the playoffs as a solid middle reliever. Held right handed batters to a sub .200 batting average and left handed batters only hit .216 against him. Resigned with the Rockies over the offseason, but was also named in the Mitchell report as having purchased steroids and HGH. The Rockies are hoping that Herges can fill the same role for them this year, as he is capable of going multiple innings when needed.

Other Possible Bullpen Arms

Ryan Speier - Former minor league closer who had to sit out all of 2006 due to injury

Mark Redman - Could possible earn a spot in the starting rotation, but most likely will end up in the bullpen as long reliever, as a lefty could also handle left handed batters when needed.

Jose Capellan - Power arm, who could make the bullpen out of spring training if he impresses.
Juan Morillo - Former starter in the minors who was converted to a reliever last year, has 100 mph fastball, like Capellan will need to make the team in Spring training.
Josh Newman and Micah Bowie - One of these two could make the team as a left-handed specialist

Out of these three, Affeldt, the left-handed reliever from last year will probably be missed most. Hawkins was replaced with a similar style pitcher, Vizcaino. Julio last season did rebound from his atrocious start with the Marlins, but then returned to his gas can ways during the stretch run.

First off, let me say that I absolutely detest players who used steroids in order to gain advantage in sports. Steroids were developed to help people who suffer from medical conditions, not so that guys who have the privilege of playing a sport for a living can get better. I applaud the Hall of Fame for trying to take a stand against players who the believe used. Whether or not they succeed in keeping them all out will be seen, but it is a noble stand.

However, in baseball reporting it is getting a little tiring of the non-stop reporting of the mitchell report and it's repercussions. It's a classic case of journalism overkill. No on is creative enough or diligent enough to get off their butts and do some reporting, instead waiting for the next news piece to come over the AP that they can add their opinion and byline to. If there's some truly new piece of information concerning steroid use in baseball put it out there, but when the baseball pages of every single sports reporting website, (CBS, ESPN, Yahoo, MLB.com, SI, etc) are ninety percent consumed with the Mitchell report I think it's time for some real journalism.

I used to visit all of the aforementioned websites to obtain as much information as possible about baseball, anymore though, I can go to just one of them and receive all the same information. I know it's the off-season and all the big signings and trade are pretty much done, but still there are tons of things that could be covered instead of an over-reported, over-bisected, over-killed report, that deals almost entirely with events that transpired 2 or more years ago.

I for one, am ready to look forward to the future as baseball continues to toughen it's policies and testing procedures, and would appreciate it if a few journalists would do the same.

I've already noticed on these blogs that there is some extreme confusion as to the quality of the Rockies pitching staff. The only thing I can contribute this too, is no one has paid any attention to this team since the days of the Blake Street Bombers, i.e. the 90's. So just as a favor to those who have no idea that baseball is played someplace other then the West and East Coast and Chicago, here's a breakdown of the Rockies pitching.

Jeff Francis - Probably the least known ace in the National League by fans, however he was chosen as one of the top four starters in the National League by the players this past year when he won 17 games and struck out 165 while only walking 63, been compared to a left handed Greg Maddux.

Aaron Cook - Has battled some interesting injuries including one that almost took his life while in the mound. However he's possesses one of the best pitches in the Majors, a sinker that rivals Brandon Webb's and is a solid inning's eater who has suffered from a lack on run support.

Ubaldo Jimenez - A young pitcher who was called up last year, who has nasty stuff, 96 mph fastball with a better slider, and profiles as a future ace

Jason Hirsh - Another rookie last year, whose season ended when he got hit in the leg with a line-drive in the first inning of a game, he proceeded to throw 6 scoreless innings before being pulled and discovering he had a broken leg. Was the #1 prospect in the Astro's system before being traded to the Rockies as part of the package for Jason Jennings.

Franklin Morales - A very young left-handed pitching with an amazing curve, and a 95+ fastball, he had a 3.43 ERA over a forty inning call-up last year. Considered the top prospect in a very good minor league system

Also of note the Rockies pitching staff had the best ERA in the National League and was top 3 in the majors after the All-Star break with these guys. It wasn't the Rockies hitting that got them to the World Series it was their pitching. They shut down the vaunted Phillies' offense in their little league field.

Well it's January 15th with roughly a month to go till spring training gets under way, and I am already anticipating another season of baseball. This off-season has been interesting, with Barry Bonds being indicted and the Mitchell report exposing more of the steroid culture that prevailed in baseball.

There has been just a few free agent moves worth noting, though often times it's the ones that no one notes that can put a team over the top. Alex Rodriguez pulling off his classless act of announcing during game 4 of the World Series that he was opting out only to later resign with the Yankees for far less then Scott Boras was hoping to get. Andrew Jones, coming off an extremely bad contract year signed for two year with the Dodgers, hoping to reestablish himself in that time.

The trade front has provided slightly more news. With the Tigers, coming off a disappointing season following their World Series appearance trading for Miguel Cabrera and Dontre Willis. Dan Haren was shipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and more recently Scott Rolen finally getting out of St. Louis. However, two of the bigger names that were bantered about all off-season have yet to be moved, Johan Santanna, and Erik Bedard who nobody seems willing to pony up enough prospects to pry them away from their current teams.

Looking back it's been a fairly eventful season, and it will be interesting to see the repercussions of the Mitchell report, in terms of Congress hearings, the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee spout and suspensions from the league on players named in it. But here's to putting it all in the past and looking forward to the 2008 MLB season.